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Shea La Vie [ Part 2 of 2 ] Redemption
Wednesday, 4 October 2006
As promised, here is my recap of the second half of the spectacular 2006 Mets season. Actually, only the games in my six pack, which were a huge benefit to the team and the other fans, as they had the privilege of one extra very sexy Mets enthusiast in their midst on those dates. Along with cutting edge sports-writing, you will also benefit from prize winning photography by me, and the official box scores for those games when you click on the dates. You can thank me later.
23.Aug.2006 This game was pretty cool. It was against the Cardinals, probably the second best team in all the National League. And trust me, this team isn't screwing around either, as tinges of nervousness over the impending arrival of the unbelievable Albert Pujols seemed evident. " Yeah, the Mets are doing great", the critics would say. "But it's just a fluke, because their division and most of the rest of the NL are in tatters". "They can't keep this up against a team like the Cardinals!". Little did they know the time had come to silence the non-believers.
At this point of the season the excitement was really building. As a long time Mets fan, I've learned not to get too excited when they're doing well because something usually goes wrong. It was the 5th of the original six tickets I had, and I was getting the feeling like this whole thing is "wrapping up". I looked at our cozy seating section, so perfectly spaced exactly within a few feet of both the Men's bathroom and the nearest beer stand, and for that moment I wished it could last forever.
We kept Albert Pujols from destroying us, even though he did get a couple of RBI's. Jose Reyes crushed a home run, his 15th, off Mark Mulder (no Mets shortstop has hit more than 10 in a season). Chants of "Jose.... Jose, Jose Jose" (to the tune of the British soccer chant "Ole") - throughout the packed crowd could not be quelled. I got drunk. We all did the wave.
24.Aug.2006 Aside from the previous month's game and the Yankee game, I had started to get accustomed to telling people "If I can only come back tomorrow, I just know they'll win", due to the seemingly bad luck the team had while I was in attendance. So far the Mets had only won 2 of the 5 when I've been there, and I had almost lost confidence in my "life-light", the powerful aura emerging from my body which, when I'm at public venues usually makes whatever I want to happen well... happen.
This time I was lucky enough to be invited to the next day's game by a friend of mine who works at Lincoln Center. It was funny because a few months ago I attended a restaurant showcase fundraising event at Lincoln Center where a few Mets were supposed to be in attendance (including Tom Glavine, who I love and who's doppelganger lives right next door to me). None of the big star pitchers showed up, but one relatively new Met pitcher did attend, 25 year old rookie John Maine. He wasn't very intent on making a shining first impression with the people of New York it seemed. This guy I knew was working the entrance gate. I got there late and it had been a long day for him. It was an expensive event to attend, and the comped people needed wristbands for admission. John Maine shows up and unexpectedly demands more wristbands for what I assume to be his friends or entourage, or whatever. Stressed, the guy at the door checks his list and asks the this guy who he is. "John Maine, New York Mets" he says, like he's fucking James Bond or something. So that's been an ongoing joke with the group for a while, and since then I've actually come around to kind of liking this pitcher, as he helped the team out a lot since then.
Moving on, the seats we had this time were in a different place, and although they were further back, they did provide a great view of home plate (as you'll note from my expert photography). I actually didn't expect to see two consecutive games in person where the Mets came out on top, much less the sweep. The score was 6-2 in favor of our Metropolitans. Reyes stole a base, Delgado homered for the fourth time in four games. I got drunk. The people rejoiced. The brooms came out.
21.Sep.2006 The last game of my six-pack went by pretty much uneventfully. The mood among the people at the stadium was calm, not as crazy as usual, being that we had already clinched the NL East the previous week. It was kind of like the last day of school. Everyone had their cameras, taking those "field in the foreground" pictures. Friends met up, wished each other luck and vowed to see them again someday. "Until next year" they called out to each other. Lots of smiles, though a somber atmosphere. (Note the difference in this picture of the new NL East Champs paint job on the backstop behind home plate).I was excited because out of these games I've been to so far, I haven't been able to see the legendary Pedro Martinez pitch. This was to be his last start before the post season, and of course he screwed up, his injury becoming more and more glaringly obvious. We got there a little late, as a recently discovered issue with my father's health kind of took the wind out of us and we pretty much didn't feel like going to the game at all. We found our seats during the fourth inning, just in time to see Pedro removed from the game. Upon getting home and seeing the recap on the various sports channels, I later found out Martinez's performance was "spectacular" until, as they said "about the fourth inning". This is typical of my luck with just about everything in life.
So that's all for now, my babies. Change is in the air. It's been a crazy roller coaster ride this year for the reincarnation of our lost Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants. I've withstood plenty of abuse from my peers ( and the general public) for my controversial, sometimes unconventional and even radical views on the Metropolitans of Queens. How can you, as an opposing team, even compete when shit like this is happening?
I've been more into and emotional during these games than ever before. I certainly don't consider myself your typical sports fan, I mean I don't know any stats or stupid facts of any other baseball team outside the Mets. We're unstoppable. It's redemption on all counts, motherfucker. And as of Tues, Sep 19, I'm now the proud holder of 4 tickets to the National League Championship Series. I only had the choice of one game from either the Divisional Series or the NLCS, so I took a gamble and I'm hoping they go as far as to be NL champs. We're going all the way this time, sugar!
For those of you who aren't fans of this wonderful country's pastime (commies), here are a few little snippets to get you acquainted on the good parts of this year's Metropolitans.
These are a couple of exciting game-enders during the regular season - Mets walkoff highlights 2006
This aired on August 21- David Letterman's Tribute to the 1986 World Champion New York Mets
